Solitaire Games

Solitaire is a game most of us have played at some time and it still remains a popular favourite - here we have versions of this game made with beautiful wooden boards and eye-catching pieces.

Solitaire isn't a game at all really - it's a puzzle which has baffled the best of minds for centuries. It was first invented by a French nobleman in the Bastille to while away the hours.

French Solitaire

The French have a different layout of Solitaire board to the English style with four extra holes making a more circular pattern. If you've mastered the cross-style board, why not give a French Solitaire game a try...

Luxury Solitaire

Our range of deluxe or luxury Solitaire boards that are extremely high quality and suitable for even the most discerning of tastes. Beautifully crafted wooden boards coupled with wonderful assortments of marbles.

The King of solitaire boards. Astonishing marbles on a 17 inch solid Black Walnut board.

Children's Solitaire

Solitaire boards for younger players. These boards are bright and colourful and designed to catch the attention and spark the imagination of children. These sets serve as a great introduction to the ever-popular puzzle.

History of Solitaire

The popular modern game of Solitaire is played on a Fox and Geese board. The game was supposedly invented by a French count who was incarcerated in prison (there are references in French sources back to 1697) and is really a puzzle more than a game.

Solitaire was brought to England in the eighteenth century. You start with all the pegs (or balls) in the holes except the middle hole. Then each turn you hop one peg over another orthogonally but not diagonally. The piece hopped over is taken and removed from the board. The objective is to be left with a single peg in the middle.

Similar games to Solitaire are found in Southern Asia but these are not of the Tafl group being descended from a separate source. Two examples are Cows and Leopards from Ceylon and Tigers and Goats, the National Game of Nepal.